Pasco inmate charged in extortion threat

Daryl Littel

Staff report

Published: June 5, 2013

LAND O' LAKES - A jail inmate could be spending even more time behind bars after investigators say he sent a threatening postcard to a Pompano Beach man in an effort to extort money, the Pasco County Sheriff's Office reported.
Daryl Wade Littell, 30, of Hudson, who wanted the victim to put $250 in his inmate account and another $50 in his phone-debit account, claimed he would ruin the man's reputation by saying he visited prostitutes if he didn't comply, an arrest report said.
Littell was arrested Tuesday at the Land O' Lakes Jail on an extortion charge.
David Booth, 57, the Pompano Beach resident, told the sheriff's office he received the threatening postcard May 22, the report said. In the postcard, Littell wrote that if Booth didn't take care of the transactions by May 26 he would have a friend "start contacting your business contacts, your friends and family, important people, where you live and tell them all your secrets."

Booth told a deputy that he knows Littell through a mutual friend, but had never met him in person, the report said. He said he had talked with Littell over the phone and exchanged text messages with him before Littell was put in jail.
Booth had helped Littell in the past by putting money into his inmate commissary account and phone account, the report said.
Booth said Littell also had accused him of "trying to be with" Littell's girlfriend, but Booth said that wasn't the case and "he is a born again Christian and wants to help people in need."
Littell had been in jail since February on several charges, including grand theft and forgery, records said.